India can become top BRICS economy under PM Modi: Cisco CEO

Cisco chairman and CEO John Chambers is no spin doctor for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but he is betting big on the India story. His enthusiasm for India’s economic prospects has not waned since he first said on the sidelines of the annual World Economic Forum meet at Davos on January 2015. “If I were going to bet on one emerging country in the world I’d bet on India,” he had said. Now, mid-way through 2015, Mr Chambers is batting for Modi’s India once again, saying that the chances of India becoming top emerging country of the BRICS grouping are “extremely good” under Prime Minister Narendra Modi,

Banking on India’s rapid economic growth, Mr Chambers said that Cisco made a big bet on India, when it said that India would go on to become the top emerging BRICS country. And with the leadership of the current prime minister, the possibility of this happening is huge, he said.

He praised the prime minister for his vision of digitisation, development of smart cities, broadband to every citizen, healthcare, education and job creation to change the lives of the people. “My views have not changed at all. If I bet on one emerging market that had to be double down on India and we have doubled down.”

He is scheduled to visit India on June 18 on a two-day trip, where he will hold talks with the top Indian leaderships. “I think your CEOs come together in terms of what Cisco can do with the citizens, with the businesses and with India as a great partner,” he said.

Earlier, Cisco had planned to play a bigger role in Mr Modi-led ‘Make in India’ and ‘Digital India’ campaigns. As India was taking steps to empower its population by digitisation and upgrading the country to a digital economy, Cisco’s top leaderships is looking to contribute by deploying its cutting edge technology.

At the Cisco India Summit 2014, the company had announced to partner ITL to support ‘Digital India’ initiative. It also launched new networking products to contribute to the ‘Make in India’ project.

The BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) is a group of leading emerging economies, accounting for more than a quarter of the world’s land mass, 40 per cent of its population and a combined GDP of $24 trillion.

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